Windows 8 – buy now or hold on?

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Sapien IT installed a release version of Windows 8 and explored some of the new features:

• Slick install experience similar to Windows 7.
• Machine requirements are same as Windows 7, so if you have a Windows 7 machine, you should be good to go in terms of hardware.
• Start menu has been re-developed in to a full featured application.
• Ribbon bar concept from Office 2010 has been adopted within other aspects of windows.
• Applications run in full-screen by default.

  (Image removed)The company writes: "After we installed Windows 8, the first reaction was panic and Microsoft have made a BIG mistake.  The desktop, start menu and everything had GONE. After spending about 30 minutes with the new interface, we observed the following:  

• Knowing how to access the “Start menu” shortcut by pressing ctrl-esc or hitting the windows key if you have a windows key on your keyboard will help you.
• Think of the start menu as its own application.  The start menu was always quite powerful but underutilised as it only had a small amount of space.
• Reading some articles on-line help.  cnet has a good article reviewing Windows 8 here.
• If you want the “old” start menu back to ease your transition, there are some good links here.

Recommendation

"Unless you are looking to take advantage of Windows 8 for some specific feature, we suggest that you wait until Windows 8 SP1 before looking at Windows 8 seriously.  If you are switching from Windows XP and Office 2007, then your learning curve will be very steep.  Windows 7 and Office 2010 users will have less of a learning curve.

"Sapien IT can help you set up a copy of Windows 8 on your existing computer so you can explore without disrupting your current systems."

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